Chapter 6: How a Wife Kills Time

I verify how I’ll take my meals from now on with Lotus.

Afterwards, I somehow manage to finish breakfast then have tea or something. Now, I have nothing to do, to put it bluntly. Back home, there were so many things that needed to be done I didn’t even have the time to say “nothing to do”. But this is a prestigious Duke’s house. There’s more than enough people to help out with work. Rather, it would be utterly unthinkable for the “mistress” to do manual labour.

“Mistress?” Dahlia says.

Perhaps she saw me rolling around on the sofa by myself, groaning.

“Yes, what is it?”

“If it would please you, you could embroider?”

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So I see. The mistresses of prestigious houses kill tim- I mean, elegantly spend their time doing activities like that… Since at any rate I’m a young celebrity now, I didn’t even think of doing something like that.

But for me, needlework is…

“Embroidery, I see. I can embroider, but my speciality is darning and patching.”

Oops, ended up talking like a peasant seamstress.

“…”

It can’t be helped, back home there was obviously a lot more clothing that needed to be patched up than time to do something unproductive like embroidery. It’s a bit embarrassing to admit this myself, but I’m pretty good with my hands and am good at anything from patchwork to re-attachment. Oh, Dahlia’s looking at me in pity. Don’t wipe away a tear with your handkerchief!

But it’s not like I can’t embroider, you know? Since it doesn’t have any use, I didn’t ever just embroider, but I often embroidered flowers and birds and such on my little sister’s clothing.

Let’s take back everything I just said.

“… Ahem. Well then, what would be good to embroider?” I smile again at Dahlia.

She pulls herself together too and suggests, “How about a pocket handkerchief for your husband to begin with?”

“My, what a lovely idea,” I say flatly.

“It would have been lovelier if you hadn’t said that in a monotone.”

“O ho ho ho.”

Please ignore my monotone.

Though I’m simply his wife for appearances, if he keeps something I made close to him, we’ll look as if we’re a lovey-dovey couple from the outside, after all! As expected from the head maid, nice idea.

With an embroidery set that Mimosa nimbly prepared for me, I begin embroidering a handkerchief to be given to my husband.

Carefully, carefully, carefully.

“I’m already done…”

I ended up finishing the handkerchief before even an hour had passed.

“Mistress, you’re very clever with your hands!” praises Mimosa in astonishment.

But I can sew something as small as this in moments. I have enough skill to sew bigger things, like my little siblings’ clothing or even my own clothing.

“You’re really very skilled,” Dahlia praises as well.

No, seriously, it was done quickly because it’s small.

All I needed to do was carefully embroider Chinese lantern plants (the crest of the House of Physalis) and my husband’s initials, CTF, around the edge of the handkerchief.

“But you really finished so quickly.”

“That’s because she’s dexterous.”

“Mm, should I make a more daring design next time? Perhaps cover the handkerchief with crests? Or maybe make the initials fancier?”

“…”

The two maids watch me with lukewarm gazes as my motivation to design rises ☆.

I sewed all sorts of things, changing up the design, but in the end, I could only kill time until the afternoon.

I’m kind of resentful that I’m so good with my hands!

–

I finish my lunch, which was made from my breakfast as I ordered. Now then, what should I do in the afternoon? They’re going to make me make lace or something next, aren’t they? As I fold my arms and cock my head to the side, Lotus comes to see me next.

“You could write thank you letters for your wedding gifts,” he says, bringing me an inventory that listed all the different gifts we received.

It listed who brought what, and what they brought.

Oh, I’ll need to look at these items too. It’s a pain, but I skim through the inventory.

Hey now, who’s the one who sent us a figurehead of a bear with a salmon in its mouth? Perhaps I’ll have it decorate a detached building.

No, but, I need to thank someone for something they gave us. Person to person. And thank you letters like this are usually all due to the wife’s efforts, so it’s the wife’s job.

“That’s right. Things like this should be done quickly.”

I accept writing utensils and a letter set (one that contains the House of Physalis’ seal ☆) from Lotus.

You don’t have any regrets before something happens.

You can’t ignore your regrets after something happens.

So there had been a fair number of gifts sent to us. I didn’t know. As expected from a Duke’s house. Good quality stuff is good quality, no matter how rotten it may be, as they say. No wait, this house isn’t rotten, I’m sorry.

We received gifts from almost every influential person in the country. It was pretty hard work verifying what each person sent and carefully crafting out a response that wouldn’t be rude.

Though I’m good at manual labour since I’m used to it, I don’t have any experience with this kind of desk work – no, work that requires mental power – so it tired me out a lot.

Aside from when I took a break to drink some tea and eat some sweets Mimosa prepared for me, I worked at my desk writing thank you letters with barely any rest.